South Dakota Ramble Quick Peek

South Dakota was absolutely beautiful!!!  I have been to a lot of places in the USA and SD ranks right up there with some of my most beautiful places I've traveled, at least western SD.  I mean how beautiful is this.....

Custer State Park

 There's those fabulous rolling hills, that are so different from the rolling hills of the southern Missouri Oazrks or Appalachia, yet still fabulous in its own right.

There's waterfalls!  Yes multiple waterfalls!  I was able to visit multiple waterfalls while we were traveling through South Dakota.  This one is called Roughlock Falls in Spearfish canyon.

 

Spearfish Falls

 

 You've got multiple National Parks to visit as well.  This picture is from Badlands National Park.  Here the rocks paint the landscape with beautiful color and the lighting at sunset...  Fantastic!!!

 

 

I am a total animal lover!  It comes with being an outdoorsy kind of girl I think.  So anywhere that has cool animals for me to see is a big bonus in my mind.  South Dakota had fun, in the wild animals, to see like the pronghorn antelope below in Custer State Park.  Along with the wild animals that are a little more caged in, like this adorable black bear we saw at Bear Country USA which is a drive thru animal park.

 

Look at him just chilling there, relaxing the day away.

 

 Most of our trip we had beautiful, almost perfect weather, like upper 70's to low 80's with gorgeous blue, blue skies.  We did have a few days where the skies darkened up and the heavens let loose.  Here below was the aftermath of one of those days, where the fog was rolling in as we were walking to dinner in the drizzle.

 Is this Colorado or South Dakota?  Sometimes it was hard to tell.



Oh and the scenic drives!  Oh so much fun!  We drove down Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road.  Both roads are extremely curvy and both are beautiful to drive through.  I was so glad that my husband was the one who was driving this trip haha, so I could hang out the window and take picture, after picture, after picture.  Here's a few samples from those roads.

Mt Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road, if you look real closely you can see the boys.

 

Needles Hwy with the famous needle looking rock formations

One of the many one lane tunnels you drive through.

The interesting/scary part about the tunnels is that you can only fit one vehicle through and barely sometimes that one.  In fact my husband's oversized pick up almost would not fit through.  Check out how close we were to the edge.  I mean one false move and his truck would have scraped the rocks!  I'm sure smaller vehicles aren't as bad.

It was always a fun guessing game as to whether or not somebody else is making their way through the tunnel ahead of you or if it is your turn.

South Dakota had it all, caves for you to explore, nature and animals, hiking, and scenic drives.  Fabulously quirky roadside attractions like the one below.  This building is made entirely out of corn husks.  How cool is that?

 

Fun, old west towns like Deadwood and Keystone, along with natural beauty galore.  So there you go my quick, sneak peek overview of our South Dakota Ramble.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  If you would like to see more of my pictures you can check them out here.  I'm on Facebook and Instagram @lightofworldphoto as well.

 

This is part of Oh the Places You Will Go, Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox, and Travel Photo Monday at Travel, Photo, Discovery.  Enjoy some fun travel pictures!

South Dakota was absolutely beautiful!!!  I have been to a lot of places in the USA and SD ranks right up there with some of my most beautiful places I've traveled, at least western SD.  I mean how beautiful is this.....

Custer State Park

 There's those fabulous rolling hills, that are so different from the rolling hills of the southern Missouri Oazrks or Appalachia, yet still fabulous in its own right.

There's waterfalls!  Yes multiple waterfalls!  I was able to visit multiple waterfalls while we were traveling through South Dakota.  This one is called Roughlock Falls in Spearfish canyon.

 

Spearfish Falls

 

 You've got multiple National Parks to visit as well.  This picture is from Badlands National Park.  Here the rocks paint the landscape with beautiful color and the lighting at sunset...  Fantastic!!!

 

 

I am a total animal lover!  It comes with being an outdoorsy kind of girl I think.  So anywhere that has cool animals for me to see is a big bonus in my mind.  South Dakota had fun, in the wild animals, to see like the pronghorn antelope below in Custer State Park.  Along with the wild animals that are a little more caged in, like this adorable black bear we saw at Bear Country USA which is a drive thru animal park.

 

Look at him just chilling there, relaxing the day away.

 

 Most of our trip we had beautiful, almost perfect weather, like upper 70's to low 80's with gorgeous blue, blue skies.  We did have a few days where the skies darkened up and the heavens let loose.  Here below was the aftermath of one of those days, where the fog was rolling in as we were walking to dinner in the drizzle.

 Is this Colorado or South Dakota?  Sometimes it was hard to tell.



Oh and the scenic drives!  Oh so much fun!  We drove down Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road.  Both roads are extremely curvy and both are beautiful to drive through.  I was so glad that my husband was the one who was driving this trip haha, so I could hang out the window and take picture, after picture, after picture.  Here's a few samples from those roads.

Mt Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road, if you look real closely you can see the boys.

 

Needles Hwy with the famous needle looking rock formations

One of the many one lane tunnels you drive through.

The interesting/scary part about the tunnels is that you can only fit one vehicle through and barely sometimes that one.  In fact my husband's oversized pick up almost would not fit through.  Check out how close we were to the edge.  I mean one false move and his truck would have scraped the rocks!  I'm sure smaller vehicles aren't as bad.

It was always a fun guessing game as to whether or not somebody else is making their way through the tunnel ahead of you or if it is your turn.

South Dakota had it all, caves for you to explore, nature and animals, hiking, and scenic drives.  Fabulously quirky roadside attractions like the one below.  This building is made entirely out of corn husks.  How cool is that?

 

Fun, old west towns like Deadwood and Keystone, along with natural beauty galore.  So there you go my quick, sneak peek overview of our South Dakota Ramble.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  If you would like to see more of my pictures you can check them out here.  I'm on Facebook and Instagram @lightofworldphoto as well.

 

This is part of Oh the Places You Will Go, Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox, and Travel Photo Monday at Travel, Photo, Discovery.  Enjoy some fun travel pictures!

South Dakota was absolutely beautiful!!!  I have been to a lot of places in the USA and SD ranks right up there with some of my most beautiful places I've traveled, at least western SD.  I mean how beautiful is this.....

Custer State Park

 There's those fabulous rolling hills, that are so different from the rolling hills of the southern Missouri Oazrks or Appalachia, yet still fabulous in its own right.

There's waterfalls!  Yes multiple waterfalls!  I was able to visit multiple waterfalls while we were traveling through South Dakota.  This one is called Roughlock Falls in Spearfish canyon.

 

Spearfish Falls

 

 You've got multiple National Parks to visit as well.  This picture is from Badlands National Park.  Here the rocks paint the landscape with beautiful color and the lighting at sunset...  Fantastic!!!

 

 

I am a total animal lover!  It comes with being an outdoorsy kind of girl I think.  So anywhere that has cool animals for me to see is a big bonus in my mind.  South Dakota had fun, in the wild animals, to see like the pronghorn antelope below in Custer State Park.  Along with the wild animals that are a little more caged in, like this adorable black bear we saw at Bear Country USA which is a drive thru animal park.

 

Look at him just chilling there, relaxing the day away.

 

 Most of our trip we had beautiful, almost perfect weather, like upper 70's to low 80's with gorgeous blue, blue skies.  We did have a few days where the skies darkened up and the heavens let loose.  Here below was the aftermath of one of those days, where the fog was rolling in as we were walking to dinner in the drizzle.

 Is this Colorado or South Dakota?  Sometimes it was hard to tell.



Oh and the scenic drives!  Oh so much fun!  We drove down Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road.  Both roads are extremely curvy and both are beautiful to drive through.  I was so glad that my husband was the one who was driving this trip haha, so I could hang out the window and take picture, after picture, after picture.  Here's a few samples from those roads.

Mt Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road, if you look real closely you can see the boys.

 

Needles Hwy with the famous needle looking rock formations

One of the many one lane tunnels you drive through.

The interesting/scary part about the tunnels is that you can only fit one vehicle through and barely sometimes that one.  In fact my husband's oversized pick up almost would not fit through.  Check out how close we were to the edge.  I mean one false move and his truck would have scraped the rocks!  I'm sure smaller vehicles aren't as bad.

It was always a fun guessing game as to whether or not somebody else is making their way through the tunnel ahead of you or if it is your turn.

South Dakota had it all, caves for you to explore, nature and animals, hiking, and scenic drives.  Fabulously quirky roadside attractions like the one below.  This building is made entirely out of corn husks.  How cool is that?

 

Fun, old west towns like Deadwood and Keystone, along with natural beauty galore.  So there you go my quick, sneak peek overview of our South Dakota Ramble.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  If you would like to see more of my pictures you can check them out here.  I'm on Facebook and Instagram @lightofworldphoto as well.

 

This is part of Oh the Places You Will Go, Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox, and Travel Photo Monday at Travel, Photo, Discovery.  Enjoy some fun travel pictures!